


The Wings of a Butterfly

by creatureofhobbit



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-21 04:11:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6037564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creatureofhobbit/pseuds/creatureofhobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Rip takes the team to 2011, Sara and Ray take the opportunity to meet some familiar faces, Jax checks out his predecessor, and a decision by Kendra to kidnap 2011's Carter and bring him aboard the ship could potentially have a drastic effect on the timeline.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sara watched from the shadows, unseen as Laurel walked past her, laughing with Tommy Merlyn. It hadn’t come as a shock to Sara when she first found out those two had got together; everyone had known back then that Tommy was into Laurel, well, except Oliver and Laurel herself. But as Sara watched, she could see that Laurel was happy, in a way that she suspected Laurel hadn’t been in a long while, not since her sister’s presumed death.

There was another person she also wanted to see while they were in 2011. The Thea Queen who walked past didn’t have the same carefree appearance as the rest of her friends. How could she, when her father was dead, and as far as she knew at the time, Oliver was dead too? But the Thea before her now was still happier and more carefree than she had been the last time Sara had seen her, for this was a Thea who had never even heard of the Lazarus Pit, who was yet to develop what she would later go on to refer to as the Bloodlust. 

Sara remembered a time when she had been like that, when she had never heard of the Lazarus Pit either, when she had been able to be around other people without fearing that she would attack them. And the people she saw in front of her today, that was the Sara they had known, still retained fond memories of. Not the monster she had become after the Lazarus Pit.

Sometimes Sara still wished Laurel had let her be, let everyone retain those memories of her, not allowed her to become the monster she was today.

 

Ray Palmer knew he shouldn’t be doing this. In his time, Felicity was with Oliver now; she had moved on. Yet a part of him still wanted to see the Felicity Smoak of 2011.

No one looked twice at him as he walked through the lobby at Queen Consolidated, scanning the crowds for any sign of her. Why would they? In 2011, Ray Palmer wasn’t well known at all and had had no dealings with the company.

There she was! Some self-important asshole, not looking where he was going, had just collided with her, causing her to drop everything she was carrying. “Here,” Ray said as he rushed over, “let me help you with that.”

Felicity smiled. “Thank you,” she said as she accepted the pile of papers Ray had just picked up from off the floor. “I swear, this place drives me crazy sometimes. How does someone get to be a director and not have the sense not to click on some attachment they weren’t expecting? So all our systems had this virus, I’ve spent all day trying to sort this out so we can get back online, and as soon as I got it working the idiot then decided to call me in panicking because he had some kind of problem with his document. He’d only got something on his keyboard holding the control button down the entire time. Arrrgh! I really wonder sometimes if I was cut out for an IT job. And I just spilled my guts to a complete stranger. It’s been a long day.”

Before he could stop himself, Ray found himself saying “You’re destined for a lot better than this, Felicity, and it won’t be long now.”

Felicity stared at him. “Wait. How do you know my name? Do I know you?”

Ray mumbled something and dashed off, cursing himself. He’d already been the one to screw up, dropping the piece of his suit in front of Savage back in 1975, and now in telling Felicity that about her future, he could have screwed up who knew what. He was determined that Rip was never going to find out what he had done. 

When he did face Rip again, Rip was angry about the timeline being changed, all right. But Ray was not the guilty party.

 

“I thought I might find you here.”

Jax didn’t know why he was surprised to see Stein behind him. He hadn’t told him, or anyone, that he was going to Star Labs, to finally see for himself what this Ronnie Raymond, the previous half of Firestorm, was like, because he hadn’t expected anyone to understand. How could they? They had all had so much going for them. Stein’s brilliant mind, Ray had been the owner of a big company, Kendra had her powers. And what was he? Just some dumb mechanic who had once had dreams of being a footballer. 

“You wanted to see Mr. Raymond, to see what he was like. I understand that,” Stein continued as he watched Ronnie obliviously walk past with Caitlin Snow. “But you mustn’t ever compare yourself negatively to him.”

“Look at him, man,” Jax burst out. “He’s smart, he’s successful, he’s just the kind of guy you want to be partnered with. And look at all the rest of our team. Even the crooks have more going for them than I do.”

“Might I remind you of the other candidate to become part of Firestorm with me?” Stein asked. “One could have described him as being the better candidate on paper. He had more in common with me than yourself, I admit. But you may remember the time you told me about how you liked being part of a team in your school days, and how you were reminded of that when you joined Rip’s team. The other candidate would not have been able to work as part of a team in the same way. It was not long before I knew that you were the right person for the job. Yes, Ronald and I worked well together. And yes, I know I have been hard on you at times. But I also know that there is no one who would make a better half of Firestorm than you.”

 

Leonard Snart didn’t go and track down anyone from his past at all. What was the point? It wasn’t as though anything had happened in 2011 that was of any importance to him. Mick and Lisa, they were the people who were important to him, and Mick was here with him, and he knew he’d see Lisa again when Rip returned them to their own time. His mother was already dead by then, he didn’t give a shit if he never saw his father again; there was nothing for him in that time period.

It wasn’t as though it was going to make any difference anyway. Just look at his father. Leonard had really thought he was making a difference to the childhood he and Lisa could have had by stopping his father from getting caught stealing the emerald and getting sent to Iron Heights, and then the stupid ass had to go and get himself caught trying to sell it to an undercover cop and ended up in Iron Heights anyway. So he didn’t know what the big deal was about with all that shit Rip talked about not wanting them to change the past. Whatever he did, whatever any of them did, it wasn’t going to affect the timeline any at all.

When he got back to the ship, he realised how wrong he was.

 

Kendra had been thinking a lot about how she could control her powers ever since the day she went for Sara. And there had only been one conclusion she had been able to come to: the one time she had had any success in controlling her powers was when Carter was with her. And although Sara was trying her best to help her, just as she was helping Sara, Kendra wasn’t sure it could ever be enough.

She’d been angry and upset with herself for not having had the chance to tell Carter that she remembered their past in ancient Egypt, and that she was finally able to return his feelings. But now, now they were in 2011 Central City, in a timeline where Carter was still alive, maybe now she had the chance to tell him so. 

She knew that Rip would be angry with her as she allowed her wings to sprout, as she swooped down and made a grab for a surprised Carter, carrying him back to the ship. But it was what she had to do. She knew as she did so that even now, the Central City news would be asking what was the strange winged creature that had swooped down, she knew that she could potentially have changed the timeline forever. But she didn’t care. 

Sara and Leonard stared at her as she burst through the doors of the ship with Carter in tow, and Mick said “Tell me you haven’t just done what I think you’ve just done. You brought Carter here?”

Carter stared at Mick. “How do you know me? I’ve never seen you before. Who is this?”

He doesn’t know me, Kendra realised. But there was time, they had the chance to get to know each other again.

“Kendra?” Rip demanded. “What the bloody hell have you done?”

To be continued...


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carter struggles to understand why he has been brought onto the ship, but when it's suggested that he be returned home, the ship has other ideas. Meanwhile Jax reaches out to Carter.

Carter stared around him at the English guy who had spoken, at the man who seemed to know his name even though Carter was sure they had never met before, and the woman who had grabbed him off the street and brought him here in the first place. “What is going on here? I don’t know who any of you are. Why have you brought me here?”

The woman who had brought him here grabbed him by the shoulders. “Khufu, it’s me, Chay-Ara. Do you not remember me? I remember it all now, Ancient Egypt, all our lives, and how I feel about you.”

“There’s been some mistake.” Carter glared at her. “My name is Carter Hall, I always lived in Central City, I’ve never been to Egypt in my life, and I don’t know you at all. Now will you please let me off this ship so I can go home?”

“Maybe that’s the best thing, Kendra,” some blonde woman said. “Carter mustn’t have had his memories in 2011.”

But the woman called Kendra was shaking her off. “Damn it, Sara, I missed my chance to tell Carter I remembered everything and that I felt the same way before, and now I finally get my chance to bring him back and you’re trying to stop me? Look, I know you’ve been trying to help me control my powers, and I’m grateful for that, but the time I had most control over it was when Carter was with me. I need him here now.” She turned to a dark-haired man. “Ray, surely if you got the chance to save your Anna again, wouldn’t you do it?”

The man named Ray shook his head. “You remember what Rip said that time I dropped a piece of my suit in front of Savage in 1975.” Carter frowned. 1975? This man didn’t even look old enough to have been alive back then. 

“Wait. Back up.” Carter held his hand up to stop her. “What do you mean, I mustn’t have had my memories, and why are you talking about bringing me back? You,” he turned towards Sara. “You’re talking about 2011. And you, Ray, you’re talking about 1975. What did you mean? What is all this?”

Sara looked awkward. “Carter...we were brought here from 2016.”

He turned back towards Kendra. “So...why were you talking about bringing me back? Are you trying to tell me I’m dead in the future?”

Kendra put her head in her hands. “Crap. This wasn’t the way I wanted things to go. You weren’t meant to find out this way.”

“I can’t deal with this.” Carter turned away, unable to look at her, or any of these people who seemed to know him, pity in some faces, frank curiosity in others, anger on the face of the guy named Rip.

“I do understand why you did it, Kendra. Really I do. But it’s like I just said. It’s just going to do too much damage to the timeline. The best thing is if we just let him off the ship, send him home.” Ray went on.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Mr Palmer,” came a new voice which didn’t seem to belong to anyone from the group stood before Carter. What the hell was that? It sounded like it had come from somewhere inside this crazy-ass ship he’d been dragged on to. Any minute now, he was going to wake up and find that this was all some insane nightmare.

“What do you mean, Gideon?” Ray asked. 

“Had you not noticed that we are moving? We had another problem with losing our place in the time stream, just like the one that sent us to 2046. We started moving while you were all still talking...”

 

“Do you think maybe I should talk to him?” Jax asked Stein. He’d been arguing with himself about whether that was a good idea as everyone was talking, but he thought now that maybe he was the best person to help.

Stein nodded, and Jax knew that he was thinking of his own actions in dragging him on to the ship. “That may help. Carter may need someone who isn’t Kendra to talk to, at least at first.”

Carter looked apprehensive as Jax approached him, and Jax knew how it must look to him. “It’s okay, I’m not here on her behalf,” Jax began. “I’m here as a friend. I’m Jax.” He reflected on how it seemed strange to have to introduce himself to Carter again when as far as Jax was concerned, they had already met. “And while I don’t understand everything you’re going through right now, I get some of it. I was brought here against my will myself, and when Stein brought me here, I didn’t want to be here.”

“But did this Stein start talking to you about past lives and how you were meant to be together, or any of that?” Carter asked.

“Well, no. We already knew each other. And as for all the talk about Ancient Egypt, well, I’m not the one you need to be talking to about that.” Jax went on. He remembered the Carter from 2016 telling him about how it had been the particle accelerator that had triggered his memories of his former lives, which of course hadn’t happened yet for this Carter. “As for the reason I was brought here, why we were all brought here, well, maybe Rip should talk to you about that. But what I can do is be here for you as a friend. Any time you want to talk to someone about any of the craziness of being here, or about anything, come find me. I’ll be here. And when you get to know the others, well, I wasn’t sure about some of them too. But now that I know them, they’re a really great team, and any one of them will be there for you too.”

Carter still looked upset, angry and confused, but Jax could also see him visibly relaxing in front of him. And as he glanced at Stein, saw his nod of approval, he began to realise that Stein’s words to him at Star Labs were right after all.

 

“I know what you’re going to say,” Kendra snapped as Rip led her away, “and I have to say you have no right saying it. This whole mission was about killing Savage before he had the chance to kill your wife and child in the future. We’re changing the timeline by preventing their deaths. Now I try to bring Carter back, and that’s only going to give us a better chance since he’s now another person who can kill Savage, and everyone here’s giving me crap for it? If you just let me speak to him, I can try and explain...”

“I think Jax has got it for now,” Rip replied. “Leave them to it.” But he had to admit the truth in her words; he was changing the timeline himself in trying to remove Savage, trying to keep his own loved one alive, so he had to understand where Kendra was coming from. Well, as Gideon had just informed them, it was going to be difficult to do anything about it now. Carter was there, he was another person who could help with the mission just as Rip had originally intended. He just didn’t look forward to what was going to happen when Chronos found out...

To be continued...


End file.
